Woman Spotlight Wednesday: Aurora Straus
- Annalise Huang
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
Written by Annalise Huang, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
Women have played an influential role throughout the history of motor racing. Many have taken to the wheels of motorsport machines, while numerous figures have worked tirelessly on the sidelines in various roles, shaping the motor racing world to the present day.
Woman Spotlight Wednesday aims to take a look at the tales of these superwomen, who have surpassed various hurdles to reach where they are today.
In March 2018, North America’s only female driver celebrated her first professional race win at Circuit of the Americas, the Formula One track in Austin, Texas. After over half an hour of intense head-to-head battle on the track, 19-year-old Aurora Straus made history by winning a race in the Pirelli World Challenge Sprint-X series.
For Straus, however, the biggest victory of that day was bringing a group of some 40 Girl Scouts up to the podium as part of her very own education initiative, Girls With Drive, which helps young girls find careers in STEM.
“There is a world of career opportunities available in the professional motorsport world. There’s no reason that those people shouldn’t be women,” said Straus.
Straus serves as a powerful example of the capabilities of women in motorsport roles, particularly behind the wheel. Since 2015, she has raced in series such as the Battery Tender Mazda MX-5 Cup and the IMSA Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge.
Straus was Rookie of the Year in IMSA and the first woman to ever win a race in the Radical Cup North America
“The second I tried racing, I knew that I was going to be hooked forever,” Straus recollects. “I imagine it's what taking drugs would feel like, like you’re risking everything to win.”
A Harvard graduate with a double major in English literature and mechanical engineering, Straus is no stranger to risk. In 2018, she took a gap year from her education to compete in the Pirelli World Championship, where she finished the season as runner-up in her class..
“It’s a sport for eternal optimists. Every single tenth of a second is a chance to be a better driver, a better racer. The idea of reaching for this standard of perfection that will seldom exist inside a race car is very cool. I appreciate the humanity behind that struggle.”
Off the track, Straus shows the same relentless desire to improve and advance. By spearheading various initiatives throughout her career, she has uplifted countless women within the male-dominated motorsport industry.
Straus started her nonprofit, Girls With Drive, while studying at Harvard. Noticing the lack of women in motorsports and STEM roles in particular, her organisation creates an early pipeline for young girls to gain exposure and mentorship.
Through educational programming, internships, and experiences like the Girl Scouts being invited to her first professional race win, the initiative connects girls to fields like science, engineering, and business within racing.
Another of Straus’ newer initiatives is the Dart Car initiative, or the Driven Artist Racing Team. She co-founded the female-led team and platform, which elevates women in the racing and creative industries through motorsports, art, and advocacy.
The team’s competitive car is accentuated by colourful designs from diverse artists, giving both female drivers and artists greater visibility.
All of these efforts aim to not just amplify the voices of women, but actively prop them up in an industry that often fails to follow through with progressive promises.
“You’ve got things like F1 Academy and other female driver lineup initiatives. All of those programs are wonderful, but the interest in maintaining those programs when a driver wrecks or has one bad race is very fleeting,” said Straus. “I find that female athletes, myself included, get fewer chances to fail.”
Despite the challenges and limitations of the industry that Straus has dedicated much of her career towards changing, racing will always be an irreplaceable love for the accomplished driver.
“Even after really tough weekends, I find myself realising that part of what I love about it is that I’ve never encountered anything else so challenging in my life. That perpetual reaching up is part of what continues to draw me to it.”
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